100 Films to Watch to Help You Understand China
https://radii.co/article/100-films
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100 titles
- DirectorDuyu DanStarsMingzhu YinWen-Chao WuMeikang JiangOne of the earliest cinematic adaptation of Chinese classic novel Journey to the West. When seeking for food alone, Tang Xuanzang was kept prisoner by seven spider monsters who took the form of seven beautiful women. The Monkey King and the other two of Xuanzang's disciples managed to rescue him with the help of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva/Guanyin. They renounced the desire for lust and continued the quest for Buddhist Scriptures.
- DirectorYu SunStarsYanyan ChenChu-chu LinLingyu RuanThis film depicting the lives of ordinary people - street peddlers, poor scholars, and young revolutionaries - reflects the culturally progressive political climate of that pre-War, post-May the 4th era.
- DirectorDongshan ShiStarsZhanfei GaoYan JinJiqun LiuA fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the Shanghai movie scene, with parallels to the true-life story of popular actress Ruan Lingyu. A simple girl is plucked from the countryside by a famous actor, who romances her and makes her a star, with unhappy results. The film's score is lost, but the engagement of Zi Luolan, an opera star (credited as Violet Wong), to play the lead opposite Jin Yan (Raymond King) was a sensation.
- DirectorYonggang WuStarsLingyu RuanTian JianZhizhi ZhangStreet walker by night, devoted mother by day, a woman fights to get her young son an education amid criminal and social injustice in China.
- DirectorChusheng CaiStarsLingyu RuanNaidong WangJunli ZhengOvernight, the sexy Wei Ming will become a successful novelist. But, desperate to get the money that she needs to cure her little daughter (and harassed by a rich, unscrupulous rake), she will end up eventually engage in luxury prostitution.
- DirectorMuzhi YuanStarsXinzhu ZhangNa TangBoxun ZhouA scholar fell in love with a shop owner's daughter who was ambiguous with a tea house manager.
- DirectorMuzhi YuanStarsDan ZhaoHeling WeiXuan ZhouIn old Shanghai, two sisters, a prostitute and a singer, tried to escape from the local scoundrels with the help of a trumpet player and a newspaper seller.
- DirectorXiling ShenStarsDan ZhaoYang BaiBan LüFour students in Shanghai have recently finished university. All are unemployed. Xu contemplates suicide but his friend Zhao talks him out of it. Zhao lives in a shabby room with just a flimsy wall of planks separating him from the room behind. Miss Yang, in town to take a factory job, moves in behind. Her nails into the wall knock Zhao's photos down. The unseen neighbours start playing tit for tat... Zhao gets a job as proofreader at a newspaper. He sees that pretty girl on the tram to work every day. He doesn't know her, but it's Miss Yang... Zhao is assigned to cover labour conditions for the paper. He is sent to a factory, the one where Miss Yang works...
- DirectorHu SangStarsYanyan ChenQiong LiuShan Lu
- DirectorMu FeiStarsChaoming CuiWei LiYu ShiA lonely housewife finds her monotonous life altered when her childhood sweetheart returns to town.
- DirectorYu SunStarsDan ZhaoZongying HuangBoxun ZhouThe life-story of Wu Xun, a beggar in the Qing dynasty who set up free schools for poor children.
- DirectorSu LiZhaodi WuStarsZhenqing GuoYing ZhangHua FangA guerrilla group around Li Xiangyang are ambushed by the Japanese invasion army during the War of Resistance.
- DirectorHuaiai ChenWei CuiStarsFang XieTai KangZengyin CaoPeople's dignity and life are measlier than paper in China's dark years in the first half of 20th century. Smart student Lin learns knowledge from a college professor and a communist man, then runs on to an extraordinary revolutionary way.
- DirectorJiayi WangStarsLikun YangZijiang MoJingzhen SunAh Peng meets a girl named Jinhua at a festival and they agree to meet the next year. One year later, he searches for her and finds other girls named Jinhua, leading to a series of misunderstanding.
- DirectorJin XieStarsXijuan ZhuXingang WangMei XiangIn 1930s, Wu Qionghua was a housemaid of Nan-ba-tian, a cruel warlord of a village in Hainan Island, China. Often abused by her master, Qionghua was finally rescued by Hong Changqing, leader of the Red Detachment of Women - a troop of women soldiers. She joined the troop and became the Detachment leader after the death of Hong. They captivated and executed the warlord and liberated Qionghua's home village.
- DirectorWenhua LiStarsZhenqing GuoSuya WangXiying WenSet in the "cultural revolution" period of China, a college of labor is set up in a mountain area of Jiangxi Province. Long Guozheng, a veteran cadre of Chinese People's Anti-Japanese Military and Political College, is sent to the new college as secretary and headmaster. He has to try his best to lead the college on the right track.
- DirectorZhuangzhuang TianStarsTian YiWenyao ZhangXiaoman ChenThe lives of a Beijing family throughout the 1950s and 1960s, as they experience the impact of the Hundred Flowers Campaign, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution.
- DirectorWen JiangStarsYu XiaWei ChenShaobo DaiBeijing, 1970s. Now that the CR has driven most adults to the provinces, 14-year-old Monkey and his pals have free reign over the city. They hang around, get up to no good, and discover that unsolvable mystery referred to as "girls."
- DirectorJianxin HuangStarsZifeng LiuHong MuFeihu SunEngineer Zhao Shuxin has been promoted and clones a robot in his image to attend his meetings, resulting in comic situations.
- DirectorJianxin HuangYazhou YangStarsZhenhua NiuKesheng LeiQiang LiWang Shuangli is Deputy Director of the local Cultural Centre, and hopes to be appointed Director. However Old Ma is brought in from the country and installed as Director. This starts a long train of events with Wang's cronies using the bureaucracy to try to oust the new director. At home, Wang has problems because his father wants Wang to have a son to carry on the family name. However, because of the one-child policy, Wang cannot have any more children unless his young daughter is certified infirm.
- DirectorGuan HuStarsLin KongXie KunJiali DingThe children who grow up together in a Beijing courtyard pursue various careers.
- DirectorXiaowen ZhouStarsLiya AiPeiqi LiuZhijun GeA woman gets obsessed with buying a television for her family.
- DirectorYing NingStarsLi JianLiu Ying ShuLiangui WangTake crime out of police work, and what's left is procedures. In the western sector of Beijing, we follow the tedium of police officers. A rabid dog is loose in Guoli's beat: a gang of police officers hunts it down. Then, word comes from on high to pick up all the dogs in the sector: fear of rabies combines with the dogs' being status symbols of the nouveau riche. Occasionally a criminal is picked up: someone selling porn, someone running a three-card-monte game. Cops smoke, go to meetings, and hold trainings. They patrol on bicycles and enforce edicts. Guoli works nights. He's lazy at home, his wife wants him to do more. Is there any more to do?